March 11/02 7:35 am - B.C. News, Visalia, Paris-Nice

Posted by Editor on 03/11/02

More Wedding BellsCourtesy Steve Lund

Congratulations to Claire Townsend and Andrew Morgan who were wed in Victoria BC on Sunday, March 10, 2002. The ceremony and celebration took place overlooking Victoria's scenic inner harbor in the presence of about 100 of their closest friends and family.

The happy newly weds will spend the next week at a "practice" honeymooning on Salt Spring Island in advance of the real honeymoon in Spain this fall.

Speed Queen Sandra Walter: Recipient of Premier's Athletic Award

Speed Queen Sandra Walter, 21, received the Premier's Athletic Award on Friday, March 8 at the BC Sports Hall of Fame in Vancouver for her achievements in the 2001 cycling season.

BC Premier Gordon Campbell presented Walter with the award for which Cycling BC nominated her as the top female athlete in the BC Athletes' Assistance Program.

"I'm thrilled to be recognized for my hard work," said Walter. "It's great to see Sport BC supporting its developing athletes financially and giving them the recognition they deserve."

Each sport under the Sport BC umbrella nominated a male and female athlete for the annual awards ceremony.

The winners' plaques and photos will be displayed in the BC Sports Hall of Fame for a year.

Speed Queens 2002 Team Announcement

Speed Queens Racing is pleased to announce Kappa Canada as the teamÃ¢â‚¬Å¡s new title sponsor. Full details to follow shortly.

dEVo Spring Road Race Series #1 - Langley, BCCourtesy Jeremy Storie

The road season opened on Sunday March 10 with the first of 7 road races that comprise the dEVo Powerbar/Ryders/Adidas/Louis Garneau Spring Road Race Series. The race started with cloudy skies but dry conditions, and a temperature of around 7C. This lasted for about one of the many 6.2 km laps, as a steady rain came down for the remainder of the race, making conditions very miserable. The men's A race was contested over 93 km and saw Sympatico's Min Van Velzen leave his break companion of the last 6 laps, Dylan Sebel, for the win. In the B group a strong group of about 8 riders went clear with about 30 km left in the 68 km race, with Escape Velocity's Ken Johnson taking the win. In the C group, Dag Sharman left the group on the final lap to solo in for the win.

The second weekend of the National Racing Calendar, the Sequoia Classic, is now in the books. 7UP/Nutra Fig wasn't able to make the podium this weekend, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

In Saturday's road race the plan was to lay low and let the other teams beat each other up a little first. Although the team missed some dangerous breakaways it was worth the gamble to keep our top riders fresh for the finish. With one 9 mile lap left the plan seemed to be working well. The tough course had reduced the field to just 30 riders and 7UP/Nutra Fig still had 3 of its strongest left. Unfortunately that's where our luck ran out. Our man on form, Charles Dionne, looked like he would make the podium for a third straight race. John Lieswyn was set to lead out Charles for the finish but had a flat with 1 km to go. Not to be denied, John still attempted to lead out Charles, ON A FLAT TIRE! Charles came off John's wheel and managed to finish 5th on the day and John some how managed to hang on for 10th. Mark McCormack of Saturn was able to slip the field in the last few miles and hang on for the win.

Sunday brought the always fast and always dangerous Visalia Criterium. The pace was blistering from the gun, but with most of the top teams so evenly matched this season no one was able to make a break stick. As things wound down it became apparent that a field sprint would again determine the podium. Our fast guys Charles Dionne and Kevin Monahan were sitting pretty, right behind the Mercury train with 2 laps to go. With 1 and a half laps to go a crash within the Mercury train saw their fast man Gord Fraser hit the deck and cost Charles and Kevin valuable position. Kevin was never able to regain his momentum but Charles made a big effort to hold onto the fast end of the race. Charles managed to squeek past another big crash on the last lap and muscle his way into 4th place.

Mercury

Today's criterium was held on a 1km, six-corner course in the downtown district of Visalia. Traditionally, it is one of the fastest races of the year. With 70 laps of racing ahead of the 150 riders, the race was sure to follow tradition. Mercury had Gord Fraser going for his 4th consecutive win, and was poised to bring home the victory, however, it was going to prove to be a tough day at the office.

The action was fast and the field was strung out almost single file with the attacks coming on every lap, but with the high speed, no breakaway lasted more than a few laps. The longest break of the day came from a 6 rider group that included Mercury's Mike Sayers, Navigators' Mark Walters, and Chris Horner (Prime Alliance). The group built a lead of 14 seconds, but with no Saturn riders in the breakaway, they had to put together a big effort to bring back the group. It was an effort that would hurt their leadout at the end of the race.

As the pace started increasing, another group went away and Saturn had Eric Wohlberg driving. The group included Brice Jones (Mercury), Danny Pate (Prime Alliance) and only a maximum team effort from 7-UP was the break brought back into the fold.

With the lap cards showing single digits, the sprint trains gathered at the front of the peloton. The Navigators team controlled the front from eight to go, until it was time for the Mercury train to take over. With 5 laps to go, it was Mercury at the front.

In the last couple of laps, Mercury was at the front and in control. With 2 laps to go, there was a crash in the second turn that claimed Gord Fraser. The Mercury team put all it's faith in Plamen Stoyanov for the last lap. Chris Wherry, Mike Sayers, and Henk Vogels took their turns to get Stoyanov to the last corner. As the riders exited the final corner, Stoyanov took it too hot and lost control, bouncing into the curb taking several riders down behind him including David McCook (Prime Alliance).

Jonas Carney (Prime Alliance), who took the inside line, made it around the carnage, winning by about four bike lengths over Harm Jansen (Saturn) and Hilton Clarke (Schroeder Iron).